Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello,

During last rally, the gearbox from my 1972 Elan Sprint started to make a whinning noise when in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears only.
No weird sound in 4th. No weird sound if you press the clutch pedal while driving. No problem at all for changing gears up or down. Only this hissing sound.....which was not there 2 days ago.

I have been told by Alexblack and Rohan and others that the bearings were involved. that the casing should be also checked in order to see if the loose bearings have not eaten the casing with the vibration.

This is a too heavy and scary work for me to perform in house with my two left hands.

So this means to me taking my car to a french garage that will force me to sell one kidney or an eye I don't know yet

This involves I guess : Taking the engine out, Taking the gearbox out, probably taking apart the gearbox to replace these damn bearings.

So... hence the high labour costs, may be there are things to do that I will be able to do once for good and don't come back.

Please help me to list them to see if it is interesting to group some mechanical upgrades or preventive maintenance to perform while everything out of the car :

- Should I change the gear ratios? Are the sprint ratios of my 2000E gearbox known to be unadequate and that another ratio is much more suitable? I want to stay synchro and not Dog engagement. A exhaustive list of ratios is there but I admit it is chinese for me. Have a look http://www.daveraemotorsport.com/ford-gearkits.html

- Should I change the current clutch and purchase a new one to be on the safe side?

- Would it be an ideal time to put a Fast road TTR or Keveldon Manifold, remove the studs and use classic bolts instead?

.....thank you for your help.

As the noise is not present in top gear when the mainshaft is locked solid and the laygear cluster is just rotating as a passenger and having rebuilt many Ford boxes over the years I am fairly confident that your problem is the very early stages of the layshaft needle rollers failing although it could also be the needle rollers in the input shaft pilot bearing.

I really would have no confidence in a French meccano being able to fix the box without bringing you more problems unless they are a specialist or have experience, there is a guy near Dieppe that I met who restores Elans and does chassis changes who really knows his onions, another UK resident French member on here gave me his old chassis, I would trust this guy or someone that he recommends but be very wary elsewhere, the cost could be the least of your worries.

As to replacing other parts I would always check all the bearings and replace those that showed signs of wear although the ones mentioned above I would change syst?matiquement, I would check and replace any synchro rings worn beyond a certain point and check the width of the tangs on the 3rd/4th gear selector fork as often they are worn from drivers resting their hand on the gearlever, the last one I did was in France and I built up the surface with braze.

I am told that the new manufactured synchro rings are not made to the same tol?rances like most other new parts and have problems of their own so I would think twice before replacing them all as a consumable.

In any case Good luck.

I agree. I think I will ship my gear box to UK for a rebuild. To someone doing gearboxes all day long.

I can highly recommend BGH Geartec ( http://www.bghgeartech.co.uk ).

They've rebuilt two Elan semi-close boxes for me last year, and modified a Type 9 (Caterham 7) box many years ago. They really are experts and know how to make the Cortina based 'box survive with the 200BHp some Cortina races push through them.

They're excellent guys and really very helpful.

All the best.

+1 for BGH.
Cheers
John

There you go Ced'

Good recomms above for you..

Al' ...

There is nothing complicated about the gearbox - I'm sure that French gearbox rebuilders are quite capable!

Whoever you take it to make sure they use the right bits ie an expensive input bearing with one metal shield, and good quality bearings. And make sure they use sealant on the screw threads.


While it is out change the propshaft UJ's and get it balanced.

Also while it's out it makes sense to change the clutch and release bearing, unless they are pretty new.

Salut Franck

Roland Salvi, who I think you know, has some gearbox addresses here in France.

Not sure how desperate you are but I have a rebuilt 4-speed in my car with less than 500 miles on it. I also have a rebuilt 5-speed in my garage waiting to be fitted - perhaps whatever I ask for my 4-speed would be less than a French rebuild (or shipping to UK + rebuild + return shipping). Would be ideal to find a garage to do a double-transplant - in fact, if you did find such a garage and it worked out to both our satisfactions you could have my box if you paid the complete garage bill

Talk to you on the blower.

@+

Vernon

Could be an idea!

Bleed the hydraulic old clutch fluid. Put new fluid